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Akio Hosaka Advanced Cruise-Assist Highway System Research Association |
I'd like to talk about three things today. First, I will take a look back at Phase 1 AHS research and development and give a simple summary of it. Next, I'll give a brief introduction to the current state of AHS in Japan and abroad. Finally, I would like to suggest some directions for AHS R&D in Phase 2.
1. Phase 1 AHS R&D
(1) Dealing with
road traffic's social issues
Up to this point, we have tried to achieve cruise-assist through both the road
and vehicle by improving vehicles and road infrastructure and combining them
in cooperative cruise-assist (Figure 1). Traffic accidents are a very big issue,
so in our initiatives we have put emphasis on improving traffic safety. (Figure
2)
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Figure 1 |
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Figure 2 |
(2) Causes of accidents
When we analyze the causes of traffic accidents, we find that driver error
immediately before the accident is a very frequent cause, in the form of
delay in recognition, error in judgment or error in operation (Figure 3).
Therefore we have mainly thought of measures relating to these.
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Figure 3 |
(3) Need for measures immediately before accidents
When we look at the measures taken up to now, we see that there are many kinds
of measures from pre-accident to post-accident, but we have gradually developed
countermeasures for the time immediately before the accident using recent
automobile technology or infrastructure technology. The countermeasures taken
up to now have been unable to address this area very much, but countermeasures
for the time immediately before the accident are very important, and now
we are able to take such measures so we are trying to address this time period
right before the accident. (Figure 4)
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Figure 4 |
(4) ASV
As for automobile safety measures, these have advanced greatly with the use
of technologies like ASV. Just yesterday, I heard that the Majesta model announced
by Toyota uses even more advanced technology. (Figure 5)
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Figure 5 |
(5) Characteristics
of vehicle-only and road infrastructure
However, there are limits on what one can do using the automobile
alone; it's not possible to do everything with just that. In Figure 6 there
is
a comparison
of the characteristics of vehicle-only and road infrastructure. You can see
right away that each has its plusses and minuses, but it has been suggested
that by combining the two approaches it is possible to make improvements
in safety and efficiency.
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Figure 6 |
(6) Cooperative vehicle-highway system
We have been developing a cruise-assist system by allowing the vehicle and
highway to communicate and therefore cooperate (Figure 7). What this system
will support is recognition, judgment and operation, and further we propose
the so-called i, c and a concept, where all of these would be fully automated.
First we have advanced “i”, in other words information support. (Figure 8)
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Figure 7 |
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Figure 8 |
(7) System of AHS fundamental user services
Figure 9 is the user service system envisioned by AHS. This is still an early-stage
idea, so there may be places in need of revision, but the idea is to apply
immediate pre-accident support to improvements in safety, efficiency and
environmental aspects, and our first goal was safety improvements. In our
Phase 2 activities, we plan to expand a bit so we not only improve safety
but also efficiency, environmental aspects and support for action immediately
before accidents while adhering to these basic ideas.
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Figure 9 |
(8) Summary of Phase
1 AHS R&D
In AHS Phase 1, we developed the major elemental technology for cooperative
vehicle-highway systems for safety. Of course we also ran trials of this as
a system. However, means of information transmission connecting the vehicle
and highway in real time are not yet widespread either on the highway side
or the vehicle side, so many implementation issues still remain in this area.
In Phase 2 activities we hope to proceed by being mindful of these circumstances.
2. AHS Circumstances
(1) Japan
Regarding the technology developed in Phase 1 activities, in Japan, services
for road management, infrastructure-only applications and so on are being studied
for implementation in various areas.
Vehicle R&D is advancing and on the vehicle-only side and in ASV, these are Phase 3 activities, but cooperative driving safety measures using vehicle-to-vehicle communication are advancing. (Figure 10)
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Figure 10 |
Moreover, navigation systems, which make up the vehicle's platform, and technologies like VICS and ETC on the communication side are becoming more widespread (Figures 11, 12, 13). With ASV, some of the proposed improvements are safety improvements using vehicle-to-vehicle communication in Phase 3 activities and systems that alert drivers. For example, as a vehicle approaches a spot on the road, main road conditions would be transmitted to the vehicle and warn the driver as he approached that point.
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Figure 11 |
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Figure 12 |
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Figure 13 |
(2) Outside of Japan
In the US progress is being made with the Intelligent Vehicle Initiative, or
IVI. This system is designed to prevent collisions at intersections using the
infrastructure. A plan is also taking shape for Vehicle Infrastructure Integration,
or VII, which will use road-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-vehicle communication
to relay necessary information to vehicles.
In Europe there has been little development of cooperative cruise-assist systems, but recently there has been R&D on systems such as Inter Vehicle Hazard Warning (IVHW) that would enable vehicles to warn each other about hazards. This is primarily vehicle-to-vehicle communication, but authorities are also examining the possibility of applications between the road and vehicle, by using the same means of communication, for example taking on-board means of communication and emplacing them at road construction sites and using communication equipment, making it possible to transmit messages like “Construction site ahead.”
According to something I heard just the other day, during the current e-Safety activities, a conference of experts was held and a proposal was made to actively promote cooperative vehicle-highway and inter-vehicle systems as a part of the sixth framework R&D for about two years starting next year or later.
Figure 14 shows the state of a test with intersection cruise-assist systems in America's IVI program. Last year a test was performed in which vehicles coming into a curve with poor visibility are detected by radar, loop coils and so on, and vehicles trying to turn left receive a hazard signal from the road infrastructure that there is an oncoming vehicle, or alternatively a message through on-board unit that there is a vehicle.
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Figure 14 |
So, we have been doing a variety of technical development in our Phase 1 activities, and now we plan to move on to Phase 2, making these developments actually usable, or slightly changing our ideas and doing what we now can, being mindful of circumstances in Japan and abroad.
3. Phase 2 AHS R&D Directions
Our development plan expressing the direction of AHS hereafter and the route to get there is called a road map. The plan itself includes the road map and the route we plan to use to get there, but there is still a need to make the plan and perform the R&D and activities for implementation based on this. In order to study the road map and the route for getting there, we have set up a joint working group within the Advanced Cruise-Assist Highway System Research Association. This working group brings together concerned parties from automobile manufacturers and makers of infrastructure, and it has examined the draft plan. Here I would like to introduce the results of the group's study and suggest some future directions for AHS.
(1) A world made possible by AHS
Figure 15 shows what kind of society we could achieve after we have reached
a considerably advanced stage in our overall plans and development plans.
The catchphrase is “AHS will realize a people-friendly, eco-friendly automobile
society!” This expresses our desire to contribute to traffic safety and smoothness,
assist elderly drivers and promote the exchange of information in order to
build the Advanced Road Transportation Systems that reverse the negative
legacy of road traffic from the past and give new value.
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Figure 15 |
As for safety, as vehicles and roads become more advanced and linked with each other, we believe that first of all we should aim to create an accident-free space on expressways and then expand this to ordinary roads.
Regarding smoothness, we hope to optimize traffic flow and eliminate traffic congestions that tend to happen where traffic is concentrated in such places as sags, tunnels and merging sections.
We hope to support elderly drivers in aspects where driving is difficult or where advanced driving technique is needed so that we can address the many ways in which driving becomes difficult for these drivers. Of course, we think it necessary to create information systems to enable these drivers to not only handle these situations at the time but also be active in other ways, such as being better prepared for driving in advance.
The expression “information exchange,” which we used for lack of a better term, may be a bit hard to understand, but in terms of road-to-vehicle cooperation up to now, especially in Phase 1, it refers to the detection of information from the road side and its transmission to the vehicle; it is really a one-way information system.
However, as I told you earlier in the example of ASV, studies are going on in Japan and the US for schemes in which vehicles transmit a certain amount of information so that the vehicle can protect itself or so traffic can keep running smoothly. With this in mind, it becomes easy to diagnose current road traffic conditions and devise countermeasures by having vehicles transmit their information. It is conceivable that the information returning to the driver could be very beneficial to the driver as well.
Our hope is to effect such a flow of information, taking information from the road and information from vehicles and integrating this information so it may be used effectively.
(2) Services made possible by AHS
Figure 16 shows the services AHS can actually realize in regards to safety,
traffic smoothness or information exchange, in such situations as when a
driver determines his actual plan of action and starts to drive and when
he faces hazardous conditions.
On the safety side, appropriate advice, warnings and information will be provided in keeping with road conditions and vehicle driving conditions. It will also be possible for AHS technology to notify the driver of information he cannot easily see for himself.
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Figure 16 |
In respect to elderly support, AHS will make it easier for elderly people to drive, for example by telling the driver about hazardous conditions in advance, or helping drivers be ready and know how to drive in those places, or telling drivers in advance about dangerous conditions in places they have never driven before. Strengthening the vehicle automated functions in response to different road conditions could allow people to drive more safely.
On the subject of traffic smoothness, AHS will advise drivers of the best way to drive depending on traffic conditions. Professor Kawashima has suggested that AHS advise drivers on driving speed, but in addition the research results tell us that AHS can tell the driver which lane to take to avoid traffic congestions and can keep traffic running smoothly overall. I believe that with such information, traffic smoothness can be maintained or even improved.
This relates to both information exchange and smoothness, but with AHS it will be possible to further enhance road traffic information, such as being able to find out arrival time and travel time more accurately based on information from probes and vehicles.
Also, concerning information exchange, it seems likely that by being able to use information from vehicles and thereby learn traffic conditions appropriately, AHS will make various road services and appropriate traffic management possible.
(3) Technologies to realize AHS
Figure 17 shows what things, or technologies if you prefer, will be necessary
as a system to realize these advances.
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Figure 17 |
AHS, sensors in the road and vehicle, radar and other sensors to detect hazardous conditions and thereby avoid them are needed, but in addition there has to be communication between the vehicle and road, a function for sending information from the road to the vehicle and the vehicle to the road and a function for sending information among vehicles.
Also, it may be said that the multi-function on-board unit using this information is a more advanced version of something like the current car navigation technology. Here we use the phrase “From route finding to safe, smooth navigation,” but in the short term, I think we will be able to provide information on hazardous spots in advance by, for example, supplying car navigation systems with information they can use that is currently held on the road side regarding hazardous curves and intersections, places with many accidents and places that are difficult to drive.
In the medium term, I believe that navigation to arrive at a desired time will be possible as the social systems are created.
(4) AHS roadmap
With automobiles acting as sensors and transmitting information needed by the
road or other vehicles, it becomes possible to create a system that is efficient
overall, in part because fewer sensors will be needed. This will make road
management more advanced, improve automobile safety and let automobiles make
up for each other's various limitations.
In order to help create such a society, we have proposed a road map that sets out what needs to be implemented, developed or expanded to advance the process. (Figure 18)
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Figure 18 |
We believe that the infrastructure and vehicles will make it possible for various currently existing functions, already developed technologies and even vehicles without special on-board unit to receive services. Also by adding a little more information to existing ETC and car navigation or taking information from ETC it will be possible to attain the services shown in Figure 18 in Phase 1—by Phase 1, we mean a two to three year period.
Then, starting at the end of Phase 1, technologies deployed will include new DSRC and road-to-vehicle communications, by which I mean not so much providing information as much as a means for collecting information as the first step and then proceeding to means of providing information. I think that the society I described previously will emerge when, in regards to automobiles, technologies are developed and integrated, meaning that a function is added for drivers to interface with ETC and ETC is enabled to link to car navigation to provide all types of information.
(5) Steps in realizing AHS
Of course all this will not happen if we just wait passively, so we need to
decide what issues need to be faced to advance AHS and how to overcome these
issues. Among them are many that we as an organization can address with technical
development, many issues we must ask others to address, and many issues that
we will need to partner with other organizations to address, but we hope to
make advances on them all.
Figure 19 sums up the steps needed to carry out the road map, or in other words, all the things we aspire to do in each phase. We plan to take concrete actions to advance these items, but we are now at the point where we are trying to make advances while consulting with related organizations and others.
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Figure 19 |
(6)
Specific steps to take for now
Figure 20 lists a number of things we would like to make actual progress
on.
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Figure 20 |
First, we plan to implement results of Phase 1 AHS R&D first of all for road management.
After that we aim to take uninterrupted flow field safety support systems tested in Sangubashi, Maitani and so on and implement them in hazardous spots in exclusive motor-vehicle ways.
We aim to implement DSRC roadside unit starting with probe systems using information from on-board unit like ETC and to realize data collection and probe functions through road-to-vehicle cooperation.
We will realize driving support using navigation systems by starting with the use of static data then expanding to semi-static and dynamic data.
Concerning smoothness, we would like to start the challenge by addressing traffic congestion countermeasures in bottleneck areas.
We recognized that intersection safety support is an extremely important problem. Therefore we would like to take the challenge with new approaches, including new road-to-vehicle cooperation formats and a review of the level of driving support.
For the future we seek a society in which there is a fusion of road-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-vehicle communications.
(7) What is necessary to realize AHS
Among the things needed to achieve this there is, first of all, the deployment
of the AHS infrastructure, of course. In addition, we believe that there
are many things to be done, that the infrastructure has to connect with vehicles,
that the two-way communications function has to be promoted, that individual
technical issues have to be addressed and that legal systems have to be studied
and prepared. (Figure 21)
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Figure 21 |
Today I have told you about these things in the form of a proposal, but we are just at the point of beginning consultations with many others. Using this proposal as a jumping-off point, I hope to hear your suggestions regarding the direction we should go, perhaps even in the later panel discussions. After that I hope there will be new venues where we can hear your comments, which we will proactively work to incorporate. Please feel free to give me your honest opinions. Alternatively, I hope you will actively participate in any venues available and join us in examining the issues
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